Promoter: Institute of Forensic Medicine Iași

Partners: Corona Foundation, Center for Mediation and Community Security Foundation, National Agency for Equal Opportunities for Women and Men and Hedda Foundation, Norway

Funding value: 5,979,329 lei

Implementation period: March 2021 – May 2023

Contact: https://proiectulgloria.ro/;

Social media: https://www.facebook.com/ProiectGLORIA

Victims of domestic violence in Romania need protective services against aggressors. An important contribution in the fight against this phenomenon in the counties of Moldova is the project “GLORIA – integrated assistance for victims of domestic and gender violence”, carried out by the Institute of Forensic Medicine Iași. The project aims to provide social, medical, educational, occupational and housing assistance services for 550 victims, adults and children, from 250 local communities in the counties of Iasi, Vaslui, Bacău and Neamț.

One of the first results of the project were the establishment of the Counseling Center for the prevention and combating of family violence, which provides services and the establishment of a mobile team that ensures the transport of victims. The newly created center allows, in the first phase, for victims of violence to benefit from psychological and social evaluation and medico-legal diagnosis in cases of physical trauma or sexual violence/rape. In addition, depending on the results of the assessment, victims and their children (where applicable) are included in a program of psychological, family, social, parental and educational counseling and legal assistance.

After the first year of implementation, a total of 112 victims of domestic and gender violence benefited from the center’s services. Among them, 66 people benefited from social services and counseling, 28 victims benefited from legal counseling, for 14 of them legal actions were opened. Of these 14 cases, 12 victims were represented in court in order to obtain the protection order. Also, within the project, 108 individual psychological sessions were held for 23 victims of violence in order to overcome the traumas suffered. As part of the assistance and material support measure in crisis situations, 5 crisis packages were allocated for the assisted victims and 19 medico-legal expertises were paid for the victims.

“Violence is a form of control. The feeling of loneliness and having to go through this alone is dominant. Victims are isolated, it is a constant of domestic violence. They are isolated from friends, from the rest of the family, they are made to believe that the only person who can help them is the aggressor. Many of the women don’t even know that they could ask for someone’s help and in general they don’t trust us”, described the project approach, Ms. Laura Albu, president of the Center for Mediation and Community Security Foundation.

The year 2022 brought with it another important result in the fight against domestic and gender-based violence: the launch of a free telephone line, which operates 24 hours, 7 days a week, including public holidays, and is dedicated specifically to victims of violence: 0800.070. 017

Promoter: GENERAL DIRECTORATE OF SOCIAL ASSISTANCE AND CHILD PROTECTION Buzău

Partners: “Crucea Alb-Galbenă” Buzău Foundation

Funding value: 4,632,890 lei

Implementation period: February 2021 – February 2023

Contact: http://impreuna-proiectbuzau.ro/

Social media: TOGETHER community support for adults with disabilities

The initiative is ensuring access to integrated services for 105 adults with disabilities, from 4 municipalities in Buzau County (Stâlpul, Merei, Pietroasele). and Ulmeni).

In order to increase the quality of life and support the integration of disabled people and their families, the project envisages the setting up of a day center and a maximum protected home.

The day center, housed in a rehabilitated building and equipped within the project, will ensure for its beneficiaries information and psychological counseling, empowerment and rehabilitation activities (massage, physical therapy, occupational or vocational therapy), neuromotor recovery activities, care and assistance ( support for dressing / undressing, hygiene, for transport and mobility), activities for the development of independent living skills and earning skills, preparation for employment and support for maintaining employment.

The maximum protected housing, located in a building built within the project, on land belonging to the Buzău County Council, will provide non-stop accommodation services, food, information and psychological counseling, empowerment and rehabilitation activities, care and assistance, development / strengthening cognitive skills and daily skills, as well as self-management and social interaction addressed to beneficiaries.

The project will contribute to the integration of people with disabilities into the community through a program to prevent the institutionalization of people with disabilities, dedicated to families and by increasing professionals in the field of social assistance. The sessions will include 120 family members of people with disabilities who will be informed, counseled and trained in order to overcome specific difficult situations (e.g. caring for a person immobilized in bed with a high degree of dependence), but also in disseminating information on support. services and how to access them, the rights and obligations of persons with disabilities/legal representatives/family. Also, the program will ensure the training of 40 specialists in working with people with disabilities.

Addressing the situation of people with disabilities and facilitating their access to support services, which is a very current and urgent need in Romanian society, the project will have an important and positive impact in the lives of the direct beneficiaries and their families.

Promoter: Association SOS Children’s Villages Romania

Partners: SOS Children’s Villages Norway, General Directorate of Social Assistance and Child Protection Sibiu

Funding value: 2,462,165 lei

Implementation period: May 2021 – January 2023

Contact: https://www.sos-satelecopiilor.ro/dezvoltarea-unui-model-de-interventie-pentru-copiii-aflati-situatii-vulnerabile-din-judetul-sibiu-2/

Social media: SOS Children’s Villages Romania

The project is aiming to provide support to a number of 480 children from vulnerable families from the cities of Agnita and Avrig and from the communes of Ațel, Brăteiu, Slimnic and Valea Viilor (Sibiu county), by developing and implementing an intervention model that would prevent the separation of children from their biological families by facilitating their and their families’ access to social, educational and employment services.

The main target groups of the project are children affected by parental migration, re-migrated children and vulnerable families. They are joined by professionals and volunteers who work with vulnerable groups (such as teaching staff, social service staff, police, gendarmes, local authority employees, etc.), family members and supporters of beneficiaries from the main target groups (e.g. parents, grandparents, guardians, legal representatives, etc.) as well as other secondary target groups that can contribute to increasing the impact of the project (employers, members of neighboring communities, representatives of public authorities, etc.

Promoter: National Institute of Public Health

Partners: Romanian Association for Health Promotion, General Directorate of Social Assistance and Child Protection Timiș, General Directorate of Social Assistance and Child Protection Bihor, Timișoara Philanthropy Foundation, Oradea Philanthropy Association

Funding value: 11,635,727 lei

Implementation period: June 2021 – September 2023

Contact: https://partener-social.ro/

Social media: Integrated Community Center

1 out of 3 Romanians are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, vulnerable groups, including the Roma minority, being the most exposed to this phenomenon. Access to primary health, social and education services is limited for people from rural areas compared to urban areas, with disparities also existing at the regional level.

The project aims to contribute to increasing social inclusion and combating poverty by developing and implementing an innovative program for assessing needs and providing integrated social services in the field of social assistance, health (including telemedicine), education, housing, in at least 46 localities (43 villages and 3 small towns) from Bihor and Timiș counties through INTEGRATED COMMUNITY CENTERS.

The initiative aims to:

• Identifying short, medium and long-term service needs among the vulnerable population
• Development and implementation of a needs assessment program model and provision of integrated community services in the fields of social assistance, health, education, housing
• Ensuring monitoring and evaluation of integrated community services provided
• Development of sustainable partnerships between coordination and monitoring authorities and social service providers in order to facilitate the expansion of program implementation and the transfer of good practices.

The project addresses a number of 800 people from vulnerable families or that include vulnerable groups: Children between the ages of 0 and 14, young people between the ages of 15 and 24, including young people who do not follow any educational or professional training program, unemployed and inactive people, people of Roma ethnicity, 250 elderly people, 100 people with disabilities, including children with disabilities and special educational needs, 50 people who are/were victims of abuse and domestic violence and/or gender-based violence.

Intermediate results (December 2022)

The first such center has already started its activity in Bratca, in Bihor county. The Bratca Integrated Community Center (CCI) has already started its activity and offers free telemedicine services (medical consultations at home), physical therapy (at home), monitoring of chronic patients, psychotherapy, facilitation of medical and social services, material support for families with children, as well as information on health, education and social issues. The CCI Bratca team started its activity with an information event dedicated to children and parents, on August 17, 2022.

In this context, the CCI Bratca team organized an information session regarding the prevention and combating of domestic violence, a very discreet but still present social problem. The children, young people and parents present were informed about the local domestic violence intervention team, the resources available in the community to prevent and combat domestic violence and the contacts available, within the reach of any victim or any civic-minded citizen, who want to get involved in this.

Promoter: Casa Speranței Hospice Foundation

Partners: Brașov County Council, Lumina Association, Eliana Hospice Association and Emanuel Hospice Associatio

Funding value: 10,008,555 lei

Implementation period: July 2021-December 2023

Contact: https://www.hospice.ro/palcomunitate/

Social media: Hospice Casa Speranței

The project ensures access to palliative care services for a number of 1,500 children and adults with progressive chronic diseases, from 105 rural and small, disadvantaged urban communities, from the counties of Brașov, Alba, Giurgiu, Ilfov, Bacău and Bihor.

The project aimed to contribute to:

• Development of an integrated and coordinated model of palliation services in accordance with current legal provisions
• Testing the integrated and coordinated model of palliative services on a group of 1500 adult and child beneficiaries with progressive chronic diseases and 1500 vulnerable families from underprivileged rural and small urban communities during the project
• Training of 170 professionals involved in the care of the beneficiaries and information in the field of palliation of 170 actors who interact with the beneficiaries, during the project
• Promotion of the integrated and coordinated model of palliation services for adult beneficiaries and children with progressive chronic diseases to at least 100 local, county and national public institutions, for a period of 7 months.

There are patients of all ages, adults and children with progressive chronic diseases, with suffering generated by uncontrolled symptoms, psycho-emotional, social, spiritual problems, as well as their families, during the entire period of care, including the mourning period.

Patients with basic needs and low complexity are patients with moderate progressive chronic disease, who have no co-morbidities, and who have family caregivers, with palliative care needs manifested as mild physical, psycho-emotional or spiritual distress

For this category of patients, the interventions proposed in the project will be given by the professionals from the communities targeted in the project, with the support of the partners in the project, if there are such resources in the communities.

Patients with complex needs are patients with progressive chronic diseases who have one or more of the following characteristics: moderate/severe suffering in the physical, social, spiritual, psycho-emotional domain; they have no family or there are major conflict situations in the family; have multiple co-morbidities; have exceeded the capacity of primary care/hospital care after an initial assessment by the family doctor/specialist.

For this category of patients, the HOSPICE Casa Speranței, Hospice Eliana, Asociația Lumina and Hospice Emanuel organizations will provide specialized palliative care services at home, in outpatients and in day care centers.

Project implementation stage

• Within the project, the mapping of potential beneficiaries and existing resources/support networks in the targeted communities (medical, social, community resources) was carried out through questionnaires that were sent to the representatives of the town halls in the targeted administrative-territorial units.
• The centralized results of the questionnaires applied in the targeted counties can be consulted HERE
• Currently, specialized palliative care services are provided for beneficiaries with complex needs that exceed the basic skills of professionals in the target communities.

Promoter: Sânpetru de Câmpie commune, Mureș county

Partners: The Buckner Foundation and with the “Sfântul Petru” Secondary School from Sânpetru de Câmpie

Funding value: 3,108,636 lei (Norway Grants)

Implementation period: May 2021 – December 2023

Contact: https://incluzienuesanpetrums.ro/

Social media: https://www.facebook.com/incluzienuesanpetrums

In Sânpetru de Câmpie, in Mureș County, the local authorities are putting into practice, through the NorwY Grants, an integrated model of social intervention, aimed at increasing the degree of use of public services by vulnerable people in the commune.

Thus, 450 residents of Sânpetru de Câmpie benefit from a package of socio-medical services, measures accompanied by actions in the field of housing (obtaining identity documents and clarifying the housing situation) and skills development services for accessing jobs for 160 persons with the qualifications of security guard, asphalt paver, bartender, baker, fabricator and assembler of textile articles, carpenter, parquetry, electrician in construction, blacksmith-concrete worker, carer for the elderly at home, carer for the sick at home, carer for children, installer of technical installations plumbing and gas, construction finisher, commercial worker, animal husbandry worker, plant culture worker, butcher, blacksmith, car mechanic, data entry, validation and operation operator, waiter, pastry chef, paver, tractor driver, plasterer.

Also, the project aims to support the process of increasing the quality of the educational process for 60 school children, who are included in an afterschool program. Also, 40 parents are included in parenting education sessions.

Considering the complexity of the problems that the beneficiaries face, socio-medical services consider the diagnosis and evaluation of individual, family and group social needs; information on social risk situations as well as on the social rights of the person; the provision of emergency measures in order to remove the difficult situation in which a family or a person may find themselves; raising awareness of existing or latent social needs and of the human, material and financial resources necessary to satisfy them; the development of programs with a community character for the purpose of social promotion of individuals and communities; prevention of any form of addiction through actions of identification, help, support, information, counseling, ensuring the transfer and monitoring of the beneficiary when his situation requires it, towards the specialized social services; active management of cooperation procedures with other services such as housing, educational, medical, employment and others; counseling for individuals and families who adopt children or who have minors in foster care or custody, counseling for young people who leave child protection institutions.

Also, the health mediator provides basic community medical services such as population census, information and advice on the basics of healthy eating, family planning, mobilisation, accompaniment, facilitation, registration of newborns, prevention activities, palliative care at home, curative and recovery, with a view to social reinsertion.

In order to regulate the housing situation, the project supports 150 households belonging to the main disadvantaged groups in the rural town of Sânpetru de Câmpie, Mures county. It was estimated that there are 450 people in these houses, of which 120 are Roma.

Depending on the situation, topographical surveying, identification, issuance of building attestation certificates, dismantling, cadastral surveying and measurements, etc. will be carried out. After carrying out the actions regarding the preparation of technical documentation for the first registration in the integrated Cadastre and Land Registry system, the project team will take the legal and administrative steps to obtain the ownership documents for the households/housing. The activity is considered innovative and of great impact for community members, because they do not have the opportunity to solve these serious problems by themselves, generated by the lack of property documents and definitive identity documents, which lead to problems regarding obtaining a job, accessing educational services and access to local resources.

Intermediate results

• 106 people in difficult situations were assessed, informed and counseled in order to determine their professional profile and employment potential. 28 of them, the most motivated, were selected to participate in an entrepreneurial development course
• the after school program managed to increase the educational level, a fact also measured by the obtained grades.

Promoter: General Directorate of Social Assistance and Child Protection Bacău

Partners: General Directorate of Social Assistance and Child Protection Vrancea, Foundation of the Center for Health Policies and Services

Funding value: 11,673,057 lei

Implementation period: April 2022 – December 2023

Contact: https://asigurro.ro/

Social media: Asigur Bacău and Vrancea

The project aims to provide integrated socio-medical services for 1250 people from 50 localities (49 rural localities, 1 urban locality – all with less than 20,000 inhabitants) from Bacău and Vrancea counties.

The vulnerable groups targeted by this project are people with disabilities, including children (889 people), members of vulnerable families (361 people). To them are added the professionals involved in working with vulnerable groups in the 50 localities (min. 100 people).

Within the project, 11 community centers have been developed that provide social assistance services, such as counseling and information sessions, support groups, physical therapy, speech therapy, parental education services, mobile basic medical services and telemedicine through medical caravans, consultations mobile, health education, etc.

Community centers operate in the localities of Berești Bistrița, Cașin Monastery, Posu Turcului, Faraoani, Palanca, Ștefan cel Mare, Filipeni, Plopana, Valea Seacă (Bacău county), and Gugești, Odobești (Vrancea county).

The project includes the development of 50 action plans customized to the needs of each of the 50 communities, the training of 50 professionals working with vulnerable groups will be ensured, and trans-county meetings and workshops will be organized for at least 100 professionals.

The project continues the good practices developed in Bacău County, namely UNICEF’s AURORA application, extending the intervention to new communities and developing a scalable digital tool compatible with AURORA, with complementary functionalities.

Promoter: Ciceu commune, Harghita county

Partners: Association “Caritas-Social Assistance” Branch of the Caritas Alba Iulia Organization.

Funding value: 4,555,087 lei (Norway Grants)

Implementation period: August 2022 – April 2024

Contact: https://www.cci-ciceu.ro/

Social media: Ciceu Integrated Community Center

In Ciceu commune, in Harghita county, the local authorities are running a project to improve the quality and access to social assistance, education, health, employment and housing services for children, respectively for adults and the elderly, through an integrated community center. Thus, the measures will reduce the social gap and increase the quality of life of 500 vulnerable people from a social, economic and health point of view.

The integrated community center in Ciceu will be a single point of access for the target group within the project, being about 200 elderly people, 68 children between the ages of 4 and 15, 60 young people between the ages of 15 and 24 who do not are included in no form of education and do not have a job, 42 people with disabilities and children with special educational needs, 120 adults who do not have a job, respectively 10 people of Roma ethnicity (children and adults ).

The center will host integrated social, medical, educational and personal development services for the target group by creating facilities, such as a day center for the elderly, a socio-educational center, a socio-medical center, a social canteen, two social housing temporary emergency rooms and a vocational HUB.

The elderly will participate, during the day, in socialization, recreation and leisure activities, social counseling, emotional support, psychological counseling, socio-medical activities, medical and legal counseling.

Children will find in the new center socio-medical speech therapy and psychological counseling services, medical services and remedial education activities, recreation and free time, socialization and development of the child’s independent life skills.

The medico-social services provided in the center include prevention activities and facilitating access to free basic and specialized medical services and psychological counseling, respectively disease prevention campaigns for the 500 vulnerable people from a socio-economic and health point of view.

Also, the social canteen will provide hot meals for 100 beneficiaries of the project, children and adults, vulnerable from an economic point of view. In case of emergency, the center will provide access to temporary social housing for at least 2 families (maximum 4 adults and 4 children) who live in living conditions that endanger their safety and health or face violence in the family.

Through the Vocational HBU, occupational information and counseling programs will be carried out, support will be provided regarding the search for a job and entrepreneurship will be supported, through the development of entrepreneurial skills and business consultancy, targeting at least 180 people, young people aged between 15-24 years (60) mainly those not included in any form of education or unemployed and adults (120), especially unemployed.

At the same time, in addition to the activities with the target group, continuous training of the project staff is ensured, as well as the organization of educational workshops for 100 family members of the project beneficiaries or legal representatives, as well as for other people who take care of children.

Promoter: The Agency for Sustainable Development of Brasov County

Partners: Home Care Association, SCUT Social Services Association and the General Directorate of Social Assistance and Child Protection Brașov

Funding value: 4,594,842 lei (Norway Grants)

Implementation period: September 2021 – March 2024

Contact: https://addjb.ro/proiecte/racos

Social media: The Agency for Sustainable Development of Brasov County

The Agency for Sustainable Development of Brasov County is running an extensive local development program in Racoș commune in Brașov county, aimed at vulnerable Roma communities living on the outskirts of Racoș and Mateiaș villages. The initiative aimed to contribute to improving the quality of life of the inhabitants of these communities.

So. starting from September 2021, a multidisciplinary community intervention team developed a system of complex and integrated services and facilities, addressed to a total number of 280 children, 50 young people and 170 adults, involved in two or more types of activities, from non-formal education, to socio-medical services, from employment mediation to services to improve living conditions.

Within the project, remedial education sessions are organized for students enrolled in primary and secondary education at the “Bethlen Samuel” Secondary School in Racoș. Medical consultations were provided in a special space set up within the Cultural Home in Mateiaș, following the initial evaluation of the state of health, those with medical problems were directed to the family doctor, to be taken into account, at least 10 of them being scheduled for specialist medical consultations at the Brașov County Hospital or surgical interventions. Beneficiaries identified as having chronic diseases that must be kept under observation are consulted monthly by the doctor and the nurse employed by the project.

The people who participate in the social and psychological counseling sessions are happy to have someone to “talk to” and feel “more at peace” following the advice they received “on personal and family issues”. Those members of the community who need vocational counseling participate in group or individual discussions, on established topics or in which they show a personal interest, with a psychologist. The identification of their professional profiles is done by applying specific sheets and questionnaires, which ask the beneficiaries to think about “what they like to do”, “what they know how to do, best”, “what is important to them in the field of work ”, to “their personal and professional values”.

The project also aims to establish a health, hygiene and education center, made up of modular containers, which will include a room with washing machines and clothes dryers, which can be used by community members.

Also, the project’s activities aim to improve housing services for the main target groups for 90 families by providing sanitation services, purchasing a stove with a stove/stove and a refrigerator for each household. In order to combat discrimination in the intervention communities, information sessions, contests and project competitions related to the issue of non-discrimination and equality are organized and training services are provided on working with vulnerable groups for staff from local public institutions (30 teaching staff from schools in Racoș commune, 180 employees of companies from Racoș commune and people from the majority community).

Promoter: Marghita Municipality, Bihor county

Partners: Kécenlét Association, Oradea Diocese Caritas Association and Skyhøyt Live Scene from Norway

Funding value: 3,908,953 lei (Norway Grants)

Implementation period: September 2021 – February 2023

Contact: Marghita.ro; https://restorativecommunity.eu/

Social media: United communities in Bihor

The project is aiming to increase the access of vulnerable social groups from Cheț and Finiş localities, in Bihor county, to quality social services, on the model of restorative practices, by facilitating children’s participation in “school after school” type programs, offering employment for young people, social services for the elderly in Cheț and socio-medical services for all project beneficiaries. The beneficiaries of the project are 80 elderly people and 200 disadvantaged families (these being made up of 150 children between the ages of 6 and 11, 140 young people between the ages of 15 and 24, including young people who do not follow any educational or vocational training and unemployed/inactive persons, 115 persons over 16 years of age (parents/grandparents), especially of Roma ethnicity.

Seniors in the Cheț community receive home care services, a hot meal and participate in recreational and social activities adapted to their age and concerns. The team that addresses the needs of the elderly includes a home carer, a social worker, a nurse, a doctor and several facilitators. They constantly adapt their intervention to the needs expressed by seniors, needs from the most diverse:

“We always identify new needs and new problems, such as, for example, the prescription of some medicines, taking over some medical prescriptions, transport to the family doctor, to which we try to find solutions and adapt, through the professionals within the project. Sometimes, simple contact and a kind word from the team are just as many reasons for the elderly to feel supported and less alone,” say the representatives of the project promoter.

The quality of services will improve by introducing a new model of intervention (restorative practices) in working with disadvantaged people from Cheț and Finis Commune who will access the services. To apply the new model approach, training will be provided for staff working in social assistance services and public administration.

The formation and effective implementation of the model will lead to the improvement of the relationship between vulnerable groups, public or private service providers and the rest of the community at the level of the two localities, but also to the increase of the quality of the services offered and the satisfaction of the target groups with the services received. Restorative practices (PR) involve improving and repairing relationships between people and communities. The purpose of developing this model in the Municipality of Marghita, respectively the Commune of Finis, is to build healthy communities, increase social capital, decrease crime and antisocial behavior, repair damage and restore relationships, but also reduce discrimination / stigmatization / segregation, which would contribute significantly to increase the access of disadvantaged groups to social services, as well as to increase the level of satisfaction of these groups regarding the quality of the services they benefit from within the community. This intervention model is a transversal one that will be used in all the activities of the project and in general in the daily activities of the participating entities, depending on real situations.

Promoter: General Directorate of Social Assistance and Child Protection Giurgiu

Partners: Estuar Foundation, Four Change Association

Funding value: 9,873,351 lei

Implementation period: September 2021 – January 2024

Contact: https://puntegiurgiu.ro/

Social media: Punte DGASPC Giurgiu

In the South Muntenia Region, there are major gaps between the rural and urban environments regarding social protection, education, the level of training of the population and the employment rate, knowledge of anti-discrimination principles and community spirit.

Giurgiu and Prahova counties are no exception, being predominantly rural counties with insufficiently developed social services. The project aims, through local development measures in areas such as education, employment, social assistance, housing and anti-discrimination, to improve the access and quality of social services for at least 1,265 people, members of 8 disadvantaged communities in Giurgiu and Prahova counties – Vânătorii Mici , Florești Stoenești, Stănești, Izvoarele, Găiseni, Letca Noua (Giurgiu) and Bucov, Dumbrava (Prahova).

Within the intervention communities, the lack of regulation of the housing situation was reported for vulnerable groups whose situation is unclear or uncertain or who live in informal settlements, depending on the specifics of each individual situation.

Thus, most of the members of the communities do not have identity documents (identity card, birth certificates) or property documents (sale-purchase contract, cadastral number, cadastral extract, etc.). Through the project, 50 households benefit directly from the regulation of property documents, contributing to the increase of housing security for these families and the increase of their level of access to utility services.

For the educational component, the project includes a complex education program for 400 children (primary and secondary school students), with the aim of personal development and the development of creativity. In this sense, non-formal education clubs will operate in each school in the 8 communities. The educational activities are also addressed to a total number of 250 parents. Thus, the project will provide information and counseling sessions, aiming to improve parents’ knowledge and skills in the field of understanding the child’s personality, developmental stages, needs and how they can be met, so as to support the child’s physical and mental health.

In addition, to increase the level of employment on the labor market, the project provides counseling and information services, professional training (professional personal assistant qualification, security guard and Carpenter-carpenter-parquet) and mediation, in order to obtain a job for 400 unemployed and inactive people.

To support people with disabilities in Giurgiu county, the project also includes the development of a pilot social service. Thus, 50 people trained as professional assistants within the project will provide specialized support to 50 people with disabilities.

Promoter: “Caritas-Social Assistance” Association, Branch of the Caritas Alba Iulia Organization

Partner: Sângeorgiu de Mureș commune, Mureș county

Funding value: 3,586,068 lei

Implementation period: September 2021 – August 2023

Contact: https://caritas-ab.ro/ro/project/inceput-sigur/

The project aims to provide access to basic services for families with small children or for those expecting children, residents of 6 rural communities, through an integrated intervention model: the commune of Sângeorgiu de Mureș (Mureș county) and the communes of Corund, Dealu, Joseni, Remetea, Zetea (Harghita county).

Practically, the project includes the establishment and equipment of 6 centers in the 6 localities where socio-educational services and specialized socio-medical assistance are provided to a number of 60 pregnant women, 240 children between 0-6 years and 120 parents. Parents and children participate in activities of care for pregnant women, preparation for childbirth, support of mothers during the maternity period, early development in age groups, individual development.

“We have 4 professionals for each center, a psychologist, a pedagogue, a social worker and a community worker. During the implementation of the project, we plan that the centers that will open in 6 municipalities in a row will provide various services and activities for 60 pregnant mothers, 120 parents with small children and their children until the end of the project. Of course, there is life after the project and we want to continue providing services in partnership with local administrations and local communities, with joint efforts” (Borbély Ildikó, professional project coordinator).

The center in Sângeorgiu de Mureș, called “Safe Start House”, was inaugurated in August 2022, and is equipped with various toys, a changing table and for baby care, a trellis for physical exercises, all of which are made available to disadvantaged families with children between 0-6 years and pregnant women, so that these children start with the same chances in life as their peers.

Promoter: Baia commune, Tulcea county

Partner: My Community Association

Funding value: 4,759,704 lei

Implementation period: September 2021 – August 2023

Contact: https://www.midl-baia.ro/

Social media: Centru Comunitar Multifuncţional Baia

The project contributes to increasing the access of disadvantaged people from Baia commune, Tulcea county, namely children, young people, adults, the elderly to social services such as social assistance, education, health, employment, housing in order to combat and prevent poverty and the risk of social exclusion. A newly built community center in the commune will be the place where the local authorities will provide the services proposed in the project.

Thus, the educational component of the project addresses a number of 50 preschool children, who participate 3 times a week, 4 hours a day, in programs specific to their age, such as age-appropriate physical education and sports – formative motor activities and educational programs that aim to reduce gaps and differences between children in terms of psycho-educational development.

The children targeted in this activity come from vulnerable backgrounds, Roma, with an emphasis on those who are not enrolled in preschool education. The children attending the activities benefit from free meals and 4 free trips per year in the cities of Bucharest, Constanța, Galaţi and Tulcea.

190 jobseekers benefit from free support services. Thus, 120 young people aged between 15-24 years, who are not professionally employed and do not follow any educational or training program, and 70 adults (over 24 years old), from the unemployed or inactive category, will be advised, evaluated and trained in job search methods and techniques such as: preparing a CV, identifying potential employers, presenting at an interview, etc.

For the elderly category, the project aims to provide socio-medical services to a number of 80 people: basic medical analyses, basic medical services (ultrasound, electrocardiogram, blood sugar measurement, blood pressure measurement), health monitoring, support in in order to register with the family doctor, etc.

Also, a social worker will perform a screening/prevention test for each person in order to know the situation both from a social and medical point of view. Based on the collected data, personalized action plans will be made for each elderly person targeted in this activity.